Americans United - Founding Fathershttp://au.org/tags/founding-fathers
enBlocked From The Bench: ‘Christian Nation’ Advocate Rick Green Loses Bid To Join Texas Supreme Court http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/blocked-from-the-bench-christian-nation-advocate-rick-green-loses-bid-to
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Green’s view of the founding of the United States has absolutely no basis in reality.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A crony of Religious Right pseudo-historian David Barton will not be joining the Texas Supreme Court.</p><p>Rick Green, a former Texas state representative and “Christian nation” advocate, <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20160301-incumbents-holding-leads-in-texas-judicial-races.ece">narrowly lost</a> his bid for the bench earlier this week to state Supreme Court incumbent Paul Green (no relation). This is at least the second time Rick Green has run unsuccessfully for the positon.</p><p>That Green was very nearly elected to Texas’ highest court is somewhat shocking. <em>The Dallas Morning News</em> noted that he has been described as a “serial abuser of ethics standards.” </p><p>Indeed, Green has <a href="http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2009/11/checkered-history-or-no-rick-g.html/">quite a checkered past</a>. While serving as a state representative from 1998-2002, Green was accused of using his office as the backdrop for a dietary supplement commercial. He also drew criticism when he asked the state parole board to grant early release to a man who had defrauded investors but also made a $400,000 loan to a company owned by Green’s father. Purely coincidence, I’m sure.</p><p>But that’s not all. While in office, he pressured state agencies to assist one of his law firm’s clients, supplement maker Metabolife International, and he asked lobbyists to donate to a private foundation he started. </p><p>Thanks to these impressive accomplishments, <em>Texas Monthly</em> once put Green on its list of the ten worst lawmakers in the state, the <em>Morning News</em> said.</p><p>Green, a Republican, has always denied any wrongdoing. But he lost his reelection bid in 2002 – to a Democrat.</p><p>And if you thought Green’s troubles were limited to his time in office, you would be wrong. The <em>Texas Observer</em> reported that during Green’s campaign for the Supreme Court this time, he presented himself as conservative both socially and fiscally. Yet, records show, Green is <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/rick-green-gonzales-loan/">having trouble paying back a loan</a> of nearly $500,000 that he received from the city of Gonzales in 2014 to renovate a local hotel and restaurant. It seems that business hasn’t been doing so well, leaving Green in financial trouble.</p><p>That Green will not be taking a seat on the Texas Supreme Court is great news for everyone. Aside from his ethical lapses, Green is a devotee of Barton – the Texas-based phony historian who claims the United States was founded to be an officially “Christian nation.” Barton’s WallBuilders website lists Green as a “national speaker, author, and radio host” who “travels the nation speaking for David Barton’s WallBuilders organization and Rick and David co-host the national daily radio program, WallBuilders Live!”</p><p>Green also runs a camp for kids called “Patriot Academy.” He bills it as “a six-day political training and leadership program where students age sixteen to twenty-five learn about America’s system of government from a Biblical worldview.”</p><p>Of course America’s government isn’t based on the Bible, but Green seems to think otherwise. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jzS1mEF_Y">During a 2013 talk at a church in Hawaii</a>, Green claimed America was founded on “Christian principles.”</p><p>“We have to look right there in the Declaration of Independence for the birth certificate of America,” Green said. “When we talk about ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident,’ that means there’s a right and a wrong…. The idea that [the Founders] said there is a creator and that creator is the source of our freedom, that set up the philosophy for how our system works.”</p><p>Green’s view of the founding of the United States has absolutely no basis in reality. As we’ve said many times, the Founding Fathers intended the United States to have a secular government. After all, the Constitution makes no mention of Christianity, God or even Jesus. That’s important because the Constitution – not the Declaration – is the basis for U.S. law. </p><p>Individuals who have no understanding of the basis for America’s legal system clearly do not qualify to interpret the Constitution – as judges must do. Fortunately, Green is 0 for 2 in Texas judicial elections. Say goodnight, Rick. </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rick-green">Rick Green</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/wallbuilders">WallBuilders</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/david-barton">David Barton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas">Texas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-nation">christian nation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/declaration-of-independence">Declaration of Independence</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span></div></div>Fri, 04 Mar 2016 17:13:25 +0000Simon Brown11812 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/blocked-from-the-bench-christian-nation-advocate-rick-green-loses-bid-to#commentsState Of Disunion: FRC Head Uses Fear To Motivate His Base http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/state-of-disunion-frc-head-uses-fear-to-motivate-his-base
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Perkins uses fear and anger in the hope of creating an America in his own image. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>President Barack Obama’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/obama-state-of-the-union.html?hp&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=Homepage&amp;clickSource=story-heading&amp;module=a-lede-package-region&amp;region=top-news&amp;WT.nav=top-news&amp;_r=0">State of the Union Address</a> last night was partly an attempt to calm a nation that is filled with anxiety. His words also offered a stark contrast to those of a Religious Right leader who seems to enjoy fanning the flames of fear.</p><p>Obama asked: “Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?”</p><p>If it were up to Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins, America would choose that first path.</p><p>In what FRC called a “<a href="http://www.frc.org/sotf">State of the Family</a>” address on Monday, Perkins spent 30 minutes complaining about Obama, praising those who discriminate against LGBT people and rallying fundamentalist Christians ahead of the November elections.</p><p>Early in his talk, Perkins asserted that “there can be no liberty in America without religious liberty.” He’s right about that. The problem is, his concept of “religious freedom” extends only to people who agree with him on theology – like Kim Davis.</p><p>Davis, who <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/12/politics/state-of-the-union-kim-davis/index.html">also attended the State of the Union address</a>, was in the audience for Perkins’ diatribe along with her attorney, Mat Staver of the anti-gay Liberty Counsel. Perkins said Davis “stood strong” when she <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/name-game-ky-gov-issues-order-permitting-kim-davis-to-remove-her-moniker">refused to issue marriage licenses</a> to same-sex couples while also refusing to allow her deputy clerks to do so. These actions eventually landed her in jail.</p><p>Then Perkins uttered the least-believable line of his entire speech. He praised Staver, whom he said “successfully argued for [Davis’] release.” I’m not an attorney, but it’s my understanding that lawyers normally try to keep their clients out of jail. There, Staver failed. And Davis was released only after she agreed to stop preventing other clerks in her office from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Staver’s lawyering had nothing to do with that. </p><p>Perkins also called the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling “a devastating principled loss for all of us,” but he praised the defeat of the <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/no-hero-worship-houston-pastors-fight-broad-anti-discrimination-ordinance">Houston Equal Rights Ordinance</a>, which included a provision that would have given transgender individuals and others protections against discrimination. Perkins called that concept “nonsense,” showing how truly callously he views the civil rights of transgender Americans.</p><p>Since this was a “State of the Family” sermon, Perkins tried to convince his audience that traditional families are disintegrating. Obama, of course, is to blame.</p><p>“President Obama has extolled the virtues of fatherhood even as he has fought for same-sex marriage, in essence saying two same-gendered persons can parent as well as a mom and a dad,” Perkins opined. “And we pay a price for this incoherent ideological campaign with havoc in our homes and blood in our streets.”</p><p>Yikes. It’s unclear what sort of violence Perkins is talking about, and as is usually the case he offered no evidence whatsoever to support his claim that children are better off being raised by a man and a woman. That’s because there isn’t any. Research has shown that the children of same-sex parents fare no better or worse than the children of opposite-sex couples. </p><p>Perkins even attempted to portray the Founding Fathers as a bunch of fundamentalist zealots who “believed that the best account of our personal and civic duties…[is the] transcendent truths of scripture itself.”</p><p>Where did Perkins get that idea? He made it up. Nowhere did the founders say that American law is based on the Bible, and if Perkins would actually take the time to read the Constitution he would find no references to Christianity, Jesus Christ or even God therein. </p><p>Perkins closed his remarks with a plea for Americans to become politically active. But in actuality, he only wants certain kinds of Christians to take up the cause – the fundamentalist zealots who agree with him.</p><p>“I call upon all Americans, especially those who have faith in our lord, Jesus Christ, to pray, organize, donate, speak to your neighbors, proclaim truth in your views boldly,” he said. “We must do all of these things.”</p><p>For regular observers of the Religious Right, nothing Perkins said should come as a shock. But it is sad that he is able to circulate many of the same, tired old falsehoods. He does this because he does not want to “face the future with confidence” and achieve “incredible things” as Obama hoped. Instead, Perkins uses fear and anger with the goal of creating an America in his own image. If his allies do rally in November, he may get his wish.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/kim-davis">Kim Davis</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mat-staver">Mat Staver</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/barack-obama">Barack Obama</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality-0">Marriage Equality</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/liberty-counsel">Liberty Counsel</a></span></div></div>Wed, 13 Jan 2016 17:11:44 +0000Simon Brown11670 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/state-of-disunion-frc-head-uses-fear-to-motivate-his-base#commentsLegal Lesson: Texas Lt. Gov. Is Clueless About American History And The First Amendmenthttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/legal-lesson-texas-lt-gov-is-clueless-about-american-history-and-the-first
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">At the close of his letter, Patrick attempted to outline all the great things he has done in defense of his idea of “religious liberty.” Spoiler: they’re not so great.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It seems Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has a poor understanding of both American history and the First Amendment. So let’s take a few moments to educate him.</p><p>In <a href="http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/SanAntonioExpressNews/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=U0FFTi8yMDE2LzAxLzAy&amp;pageno=MTU.&amp;entity=QXIwMTUwMQ..&amp;view=ZW50aXR5">a recent viewpoint piece</a> published by the <em>San Antonio Express-News</em>, Patrick attempted to argue that religious freedom is under attack in the United States, which is contradictory to America’s “Christian nation” roots.</p><p>“Religious liberty is the underpinning of our nation and constitution, and the battle to protect that precious freedom should be fought just as strongly today as it was in 1776,” Patrick wrote.</p><p>No problem so far. But Patrick’s statements headed downhill pretty quickly from there as he went on to claim that the Founding Fathers were a bunch of ministers who created “a nation that was founded upon the Old &amp; New Testament.”</p><p>“It’s no wonder that nearly half of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence held seminary or Bible school degrees,” Patrick claimed.</p><p>Where in any of America’s early documents does it say that we were founded on the Bible? The answer is nowhere. And even if half of the signers of the Declaration did have religious training, so what? That does not prove they intended our nation to be officially Christian. Besides, the Declaration is not a governing document. It is essentially an announcement to the world that we were serious about separating from Great Britain. It’s an important historical document, but it doesn’t outline our form of government.</p><p>It’s telling that Patrick referenced the signers of the Declaration, rather than the Constitution, because he probably knows deep down that the Constitution is a secular document that established a secular government.</p><p>Patrick went on to complain about a bunch of supposed threats to “religious freedom” in Texas, including “challenges to our national motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ on police cars in Childress; city officials in Orange <a href="http://abc13.com/religion/city-nixes-nativity-scene-after-atheists-ask-to-display-sign/1123983/">removing a public Christmas nativity scene</a> out of litigation fears from a group of atheists or Beaumont city leaders <a href="http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Beaumont-PD-officers-say-city-nixed-lunch-hour-6707368.php">initially blocking police officers</a> from voluntarily participating in Bible studies during their lunch hour.”</p><p>When it comes to “In God We Trust,” it is our national motto, but it wasn’t given that status until the 1950s as a slap against “godless communism.” Other phrases that were actually used during the founding period, such as <em>E Pluribus Unum</em> (“Out Of Many, One”) and <em>Novus Ordo Seclorum</em> (“A New Order Of the Ages”) are secular.</p><p>As for Patrick’s “war on Christmas” story, we have <a href="https://au.org/church-state/december-2015-church-state/featured/bogus-battle">detailed at length</a> how the so-called “war” is a Religious Right construct intended to fuel “religious persecution” claims and make money. In this specific case, the Orange nativity scene stood on government property for decades. Last year, a group of atheists asked for equal time and sought to put up a sign next to the crèche. When city officials refused, the only option was to remove the nativity. So they did – in keeping with the requirements of the First Amendment.</p><p>The Bible-studying cops are permitted to hold study sessions in a police department conference room during their free time. Some officers were under the impression that they could not study the Bible at all on government property, but unsurprisingly Patrick misrepresented the situation. In what the city of Beaumont later called a “misunderstanding,” officers were informed they could not hold Bible study sessions in the more than 30 buildings and facilities owned by the city that are for business-use only. The officers interpreted this, wrongly, to mean they could not study religious texts anywhere during their breaks. The matter has been cleared up.</p><p>At the close of his letter, Patrick attempted to outline all the great things he has done in defense of his idea of “religious liberty.” Spoiler: they’re not so great.</p><p>“I took a stand to support religious freedoms on each of these issues and previously led the way to have ‘In God We Trust’ permanently placed in the [Texas] Senate chamber, added ‘Under God’ to our state pledge, co-authored the ‘<a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/freedom-from-foolishness-texas-gov-misconstrues-religious-liberty">Merry Christmas’ bill</a> to combat political correctness in our schools and established an annual Christmas Tree tradition in the Texas Senate for the first time in at least 70 years.”</p><p>All of those things represent government endorsements of belief over non-belief; almost all of them would be upsetting to the Founding Fathers, who took great pains to create a secular government. Each of these actions did nothing to enhance actual religious liberty in Texas. Instead, they pandered to the Religious Right and made non-believers and others feel like outsiders.</p><p>Patrick also said he “charged the Senate State Affairs Committee with the task of studying and recommending how the State of Texas should work to affirm the constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty protections of all Texans.”</p><p>Well, Mr. Patrick, that is an easy request. All the Senate has to do is nothing since the Constitution already guarantees tremendous religious freedom for all Americans. Of course if you had actually bothered to read the First Amendment you would already know that.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick">Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/war-christmas">war on christmas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/declaration-of-independence">Declaration of Independence</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-nation-myth">Christian nation myth</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/god-we-trust">in god we trust</a></span></div></div>Tue, 05 Jan 2016 16:43:00 +0000Simon Brown11655 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/legal-lesson-texas-lt-gov-is-clueless-about-american-history-and-the-first#commentsDismissing Jefferson: More Bad History From The Religious Right http://au.org/church-state/november-2015-church-state/editorial/dismissing-jefferson-more-bad-history-from-the
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Mark Levin is an incendiary right-wing radio talk show host who has delusions that he is a constitutional scholar. During the recent Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., Levin decided to offer an opinion on the separation of church and state.</p><p> “Separation of church and state is not in the Declaration, it’s not in the Constitution,” Levin told the crowd. “It’s in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote. I’m a big admirer of Jefferson. Jefferson was not at the Constitutional Convention.”</p><p>This is a common argument among the Religious Right these days, so it’s important to point out why it’s fallacious.</p><p>Levin and others who say this are correct that Jefferson did not attend the Constitutional Convention. He was living in Paris at the time, serving as America’s ambassador to France. Here is why the argument collapses: It assumes that because Jefferson was not physically present, he could not have had influence.</p><p>In fact, there was someone at the convention who very much embodied the ideals of Jefferson when it comes to church-state relations. This individual worked hand in glove with Jefferson in Virginia to end the established church there and bring separation of church and state to that colony. We refer here to James Madison, the Father of the Constitution.</p><p>Madison was, if anything, stricter on separation of church and state than Jefferson. While Jefferson employed the metaphor of a “wall of separation between church and state” in his famous 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, Madison actually put that wall into action.</p><p>As president, Madison vetoed a bill that would have given federal land to a church in Mississippi. He also vetoed legislation that would have given a church in Washington, D.C., a largely symbolic charter to care for the poor. Both measures, Madison noted in veto messages, ran afoul of the First Amendment.</p><p>Madison opposed chaplains in the military and made it clear late in his life that chief executives should not issue official prayer proclamations. He was so ardent about separation of church and state that he even opposed a census because it would have counted people by profession, and Madison didn’t believe the government had the right to tally up ministers.</p><p>Jefferson and Madison’s partnership was inspired. Jefferson, a romantic figure who literally towered over his contemporaries, has captured the public imagination. His writings are eloquent and statesmanlike.</p><p>Madison, a slight man who favored dark suits, tends to get overshadowed. Hundreds of books have been written about Jefferson, yet only a handful of Madison biographies stand out. His prose is workmanlike but efficient. He penned a great classic of religious liberty, “The Memorial &amp; Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments” and shaped our Constitution. But if Madison is remembered at all today, it’s for presiding over the disastrous War of 1812 (when the British burned Washington) or for his marriage to the lively Dolley.</p><p>Yet it was Madison who carried forth the values he shared with Jefferson when our Constitution was drafted. It was Madison who wrote and rewrote the language of the First Amendment. It was Madison who later observed, “The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity.”</p><p>No, Jefferson didn’t attend the Constitutional Convention. Neither did William Blackstone nor John Locke, yet the framers freely acknowledged their influence on the Constitution and American law. Put simply, Jefferson didn’t need to be in the room to have influence; Madison represented it for him.</p><p>One of the ways Madison did that was by taking the values of Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and building them into the First Amendment. Although drafted by Jefferson, the statute didn’t become law until 1786. Jefferson was in France at the time, but Madison pushed it through the legislature.</p><p>That famous statute did two key things: It disestablished the Anglican Church in Virginia, and it guaranteed to all residents the right to worship as they saw fit. If these concepts sound familiar, it’s for a good reason. They are reflected in the two religion clauses of the First Amendment.</p><p>The Virginia Statute’s influence on the First Amendment is undeniable. Even many conservative legal scholars acknowledge this. So, no, Mr. Levin, Thomas Jefferson didn’t write the First Amendment; he merely penned the law that inspired it.</p><p>It would, of course, be a mistake to glorify Jefferson, Madison or any founder too much. They were human beings, which means they were flawed and sometimes full of contradictions. On occasions, their personal actions didn’t reach the level of their lofty rhetoric.</p><p>But Levin and those who think like him portray great ignorance when they attempt to edit the facts to fit a political agenda. The effort to dismiss Jefferson’s central role in the development of church-state separation is an example of that. It must be challenged wherever and whenever it appears. </p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Editorial</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11500" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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<h2><a href="/church-state/november-2015-church-state">
The <span class="cs-month field">November</span> <span class="cs-year field"><span class="date-display-single">2015</span></span> issue of <em>Church &amp; State</em>
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/constitutional-convention">constitutional convention</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mark-levin">Mark Levin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/values-voter-summit">Values Voter Summit</a></span></div></div>Sun, 01 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11507 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/church-state/november-2015-church-state/editorial/dismissing-jefferson-more-bad-history-from-the#commentsTen Myths About The Ten Commandmentshttp://au.org/church-state/october-2015-church-state/featured/ten-myths-about-the-ten-commandments
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Legislators in Arkansas believe that you can’t fathom America without first understanding the Ten Commandments.</p><p>“In order that they may understand and appreciate the basic principles of the American system of government, the people of the United States of America and of the State of Arkansas need to identify the Ten Commandments, one of many sources, as influencing the development of what has become modern law,” intoned legislation authorizing placement of a Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol in Little Rock.</p><p>There is one problem, though: No evidence exists that the Ten Commandments, a code of religious behavior found in the Old Testament of the Bible, in any way influenced the development of the American system of government.</p><p>The belief that the Decalogue is the font of all American law and the basis of our government is treasured by many Religious Right activists. But that doesn’t mean it’s accurate. As proposals to display the Ten Commandments on government property spread, it’s important to understand what’s really going on here: Powerful sectarian lobbies are looking for a way to create a symbolic merger between church and state by persuading government bodies to display a code that largely regulates religious behavior.</p><p>With that thought in mind, here are 10 myths about the Ten Commandments:</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>1.) The Founding Fathers relied on the Ten Commandments when creating the American government.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The Founding Fathers rarely, if ever, cited the Ten Commandments during the creation of the American government.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">This question of the founders’ relationship to the Ten Commandments was answered definitively in 2003 when 41 professors and legal historians weighed in on a lawsuit challenging Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s display of the Ten Commandments in the state Judicial Building in Montgomery. The scholars, brought together by Steven K. Green, former legal director at Americans United and now a law professor at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Ore., filed a friend-of-the-court brief mustering ample historical evidence to debunk claims by Moore’s attorneys that the judge had the right to display the Ten Commandments because they are the foundation of American law.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Nothing in the nation’s legal history supports Moore’s view, the legal scholars and historians said, asserting in part, “Aside from a failed attempt in the seventeenth century to establish a biblically based legal system in the Puritan colonies, American law is generally viewed as having secular origins.”</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The brief noted that “various documents and texts” figured in the development of American law, among them English common and statutory law, Roman law, the civil law of continental Europe and private international law.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">American law, they pointed out, was also influenced by the writings of William Blackstone, John Locke, Adam Smith and others as well as the Magna Carta, the Federalist Papers and other sources.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">“Each of these documents had a far greater influence on America’s laws than the Ten Commandments,” asserted the brief. “Indeed, the legal and historical record does not include significant and meaningful references to the Ten Commandments, the Pentateuch or to biblical law generally…as can best be determined, no delegate ever mentioned the Ten Commandments or the Bible.”</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Concluded the brief, “While the Ten Commandments have influenced some of our notions of right and wrong, a wide variety of other documents have played a more dominant and central role in the development of American law. No respected scholar of legal or constitutional history would assert that the Ten Commandments have played a dominant or major role, or even a significant role, in the development of American law as a whole. To insist on a closer relationship or to claim the Ten Command­ments has a special place in the development of American law lacks historical support.”</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>2.) The Ten Commandments provide a perfect foundation for governance.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">It would be difficult for the Ten Commandments to be the foundation for any government since the document says nothing about legislative bodies, courts, rulers or how a state is to be ordered and function.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The Decalogue is chiefly a list of rules designed to regulate religious and moral behavior. Several of the Ten Commandments deal with purely theological issues, such as how God is to be worshipped, whether it’s appropriate to make idols, the need to honor the Sabbath, etc. These matters have no reflection in the U.S. Constitution, which is a wholly secular document that contains no references to God, Jesus Christ or Christianity.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The Ten Commandments are a moral/legal code, which is why they are brief (less than 100 words in most versions) and scant on details. By contrast, the Constitution has more than 4,400 words (not including its amendments) because it goes into explicit detail of how a government is to be set up and function.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>3.) It’s OK to display the Ten Commandments at city hall. After all, they are displayed at the U.S. Sup­reme Court.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The Ten Commandments are not displayed alone at the U.S. Supreme Court. The courtroom’s main chamber includes an ornate frieze that shows an array of historic lawgivers, and Moses is depicted holding the Ten Commandments – but he’s not alone. Also shown are Hammurabi, Solo­mon, Confucius, Augustus, Nap­o­leon, William Blackstone, Charl­emagne and others. The purpose of this frieze is to educate about the evolution of the law over many centuries; it does not single out the Ten Commandments for special treatment.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Another part of the frieze shows allegorical figures representing concepts like wisdom, justice and the rights of the people. A single tablet with the Roman numerals one through 10 rests between figures representing the majesty of the law and the power of government. For many years, people assumed that this tablet represented the Ten Commandments. But a letter has since surfaced from Adolph A. Weinman, the sculptor who designed the frieze, indicating that it really represents the Bill of Rights.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>4.) James Madison once said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.” </em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">It’s highly unlikely that Madison ever said this. Although this suspect quotation is often promoted by Religious Right groups, no one has ever been able to provide a source for it. The quotation appears in none of Madison’s writings. Furthermore, it cuts against everything Madison ever wrote about separation of church and state.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">In 1995, the late Robert S. Alley of the University of Richmond wrote a scholarly piece on the quote that appeared in the <em>William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal</em>. Alley consulted with John Stagg and David Mattern, the editors of Madison’s papers. In a letter dated Nov. 23, 1993, Mattern wrote, “We did not find anything in our files remotely like the sentiment expressed in the extract you sent us. In addition, the idea is inconsistent with everything we know about Madison’s views on religion and government, views which he expressed time and time again in public and in private.”</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Alley concluded that the quotation was fake, writing, “Proving that a quotation does not exist is a daunting task. If you cannot find it in any extant manuscripts or collections of Madison’s works, just how does one prove it will not turn up in someone’s attic tomorrow? Of course you cannot. That is why the Madison editors were careful in how they phrased their response. But, after all, it is incumbent solely upon the perpetrators of this myth to prove it by at least one citation. This they cannot do. Their style is not revisionism, it is anti-historical.”</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>5.) The Ten Commandments are a secular code of behavior, so it’s permissible for the government to acknowledge them.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Many of the commandments deal with explicitly religious matters. These commandments attempt to regulate religious behaviors, and they warn against acknowledging false gods, creating idols, taking the name of God in vain and failing to honor the Sabbath. Government does not (or should not) have an opinion on these matters.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Other commandments outlaw things like murder, stealing and lying. These activities are always detrimental to society and thus have been curbed whenever people have lived together in organized societies.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>6.) Local governments in the United States have a long history of displaying the Ten Commandments to promote virtue.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Some communities across the country contain Ten Commandments displays, often in public parks or near the seat of government. Defenders of government-backed Ten Commandments displays sometimes argue that these large tablets were erected to promote virtue and good behavior.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The truth is somewhat different: They were likely part of a publicity campaign for a movie.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">A Minnesota juvenile court judge named E.J. Ruegemer started a campaign in 1943 to post the Ten Commandments in juvenile courts. Ruegemer believed, perhaps somewhat naively, that the problem of juvenile delinquency could be combatted by exposing youngsters to the Decalogue.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Ruegemer was active in the Fraternal Order of Eagles and urged that group to promote the project. The effort poked along modestly for a number of years until the mid-1950s, when film producer Cecil B. DeMille got wind of it. DeMille was working on his epic film “The Ten Commandments,” which starred Charlton Heston as Moses, at the time, and he was eager to drum up publicity for the movie. He worked with the Eagles to produce granite Ten Commandments markers that were donated to cities around the country, skillfully exploiting the situation to ensure maximum publicity for his movie.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Some of the monument dedications were timed to tie in with the release of the 1956 film. In one town, Dunseith, N.D., actor Heston appeared personally for the unveiling. In Milwaukee, a Ten Commandments monument was unveiled the same week the film debuted, with actor Yul Brynner (Pharaoh in the movie) on hand for the festivities.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Thus, many of those old Ten Commandments monuments in public parks have more to do with a publicity stunt for a movie than promoting good behavior.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>7.) Christians and Jews agree on the wording of the Ten Commandments.</em></strong> <br /><br />There are at least three different translations of the Ten Commandments – Jewish, Protestant and Catholic versions. Different terms are used in the commandments (“Thou shall not murder” as opposed to “Thou shall not kill,” for example), and the commandments are listed in different orders. In the Roman Catholic tradition, commandment four is “Honor your father and mother.” In most Protestant communities, this is the fifth commandment.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The Catholic version also omits entirely the commandment against making idols, and it breaks the admonishment against coveting into two separate commandments. For Protestants (and Jews) the tenth commandment covers all forms of coveting.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Although some try to gloss over these differences today and assert that they aren’t that important, doctrinal disputes are often taken very seriously by people. Disagreement over doctrine has sparked numerous divisions among religions and led to the many denominations we have today.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>8.) The Ten Commandments deserve special recognition because it is the oldest legal code in history.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">There are law codes older than the Ten Commandments. The Code of Hammurabi, for example, is estimated to be about 300 years older than the Ten Commandments. Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C.E., published an extensive list of laws, but only about 34 are extant. There are some similarities between the Code of Hammurabi and the Ten Commandments, which has led some scholars to believe that the latter borrowed from the former.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>9.) The Supreme Court has ruled that it’s legal to display the Ten Commandments at the seat of government.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">On June 27, 2005, the U.S. Sup­reme Court issued a pair of rulings concerning the Ten Commandments that provide some guidance on the legality of such displays. When we consider both rulings, it’s clear that the high court did not approve all forms of government-backed Ten Commandments displays.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">In the first case, <em>Van Orden v. Perry</em>, the court permitted the display of a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol in Austin, Texas. The court majority approved the display in part because it had been there since 1961 and hadn’t sparked an earlier challenge. The court also noted that the Decalogue was only one of 40 monuments and historical markers on the Capitol grounds.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">The second case, <em>McCreary County v. ALCU</em>, concerned Ten Commandments displays erected alone in two Kentucky courthouses in recent times. The court ruled that the displays had the effect of endorsing religion.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Thus, the high court did not issue a blanket ruling permitting all Ten Commandments displays. Factors such as the placement of the Ten Commandments, the context of the display and even the motivation of the government officials who erected it must be taken into consideration.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong><em>10.) Government-sponsored Ten Commandments displays are mostly harmless and not worth fighting.</em></strong></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">When government entities display the Ten Commandments, it sends the message that the state endorses and promotes this particular sectarian code. Many of the commandments deal with issues that the government has no right to meddle in, such as what god (if any) people worship, how they worship and what day they worship.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">Public display of the Decalogue at the seat of government is often defended as merely educational. But these displays actually misinform people by implying that a religious list of regulations is the source of U.S. law. This does a disservice because it ignores the rich variety of sources that shaped and informed the development of American law. </p></div></div><a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><h3 >Religious Right Groups Hold Strong Beliefs About The Decalogue, But It Turns Out That Much Of What They Know Just Isn&#039;t&nbsp;So</h3><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Featured</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/government-sponsored-religious-displays">Government-Sponsored Religious Displays</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/legal-foundations-church-state-separation">Legal Foundations of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-11435" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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<h3 class="field-content"><a href="/church-state/october-2015-church-state/featured/ten-myths-about-the-ten-commandments">Ten Myths About The Ten Commandments</a></h3>
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<h4>An Interview With Southern Baptist Minister Bruce Prescott, Who Successfully Challenged Government Display Of The Ten Commandments In Oklahoma</h4> </div>
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</ul></div><div class="cs-department" id="section-perspective"> <h3>Perspective</h3>
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ten-commandments-0">The Ten Commandments</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ten-commandments-display">Ten Commandments Display</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-nation-myth">Christian nation myth</a></span></div></div>Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:30:00 +0000Timothy Ritz11437 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/church-state/october-2015-church-state/featured/ten-myths-about-the-ten-commandments#commentsTalking Turkey: A Holiday Guide For Responding To Your Uncle Who Loves Fox News http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/talking-turkey-a-holiday-guide-for-responding-to-your-uncle-who-loves-fox
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">I don’t recommend starting a fight over the dinner table, but sometimes the followers of the Religious Right are determined to stir things up.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>While the Religious Right crows about a <a href="http://www.becketfundcommunity.org/emailviewonwebpage.aspx?erid=6675492&amp;trid=0f7ee946-8d25-4702-a950-f521229f9126">new phony “war” on Thanksgiving</a>, you may soon find yourself seated at the dinner table next to someone who insists on promoting the false notion that church-state separation isn’t found in the Constitution or that the Founding Fathers were all right-wing Christians.</p><p>I don’t recommend starting a fight over the dinner table, but sometimes the followers of the Religious Right are determined to stir things up. If you feel like engaging in a little post-pumpkin pie debate, you might find the following helpful. It’s a list of responses that debunk the common myths propagated by the fundamentalists in your family who think churches are under attack or believe public schools would be better off with more prayer.</p><p><strong>Myth 1: The</strong> <strong>United States was founded to be a “Christian nation.”</strong> The United States was most certainly not founded to be an officially Christian nation. The U.S. Senate and President John Adams said as much in the <a href="http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/tripoli.htm">Treaty of Tripoli</a> (1797): “As the Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion….” There is also the fact that Jesus (and God for that matter) is not mentioned even once in the body of the Constitution. Many of the Founding Fathers were Deists who were familiar with the bloody religious wars to which Europe had been subjected for hundreds of years. They had no interest in recreating religious strife in a new nation by forcing an official religion on citizens.</p><p><strong>Myth 2: Church-state separation is not found in the U.S. Constitution. </strong>As famed church-state lawyer Leo Pfeffer once explained: “It is true, of course, that the phrase ‘separation of church and state’ does not appear in the Constitution. But it was inevitable that some convenient term should come into existence to verbalize a principle so widely held by the American people….” In other words, church-state separation is a summary of the Constitution’s religion clauses. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. James Madison is widely considered to be the “father of the Constitution,” and he was a primary drafter of the First Amendment. In a document known as the “Detached Memoranda,” Madison wrote, “Strongly guarded…is the separation between religion and &amp; Gov’t in the Constitution of the United States….” Your Pat Robertson-loving relatives may disagree, but their beef is with Madison, not you.</p><p><strong>Myth 3: Churches</strong> <strong>are facing persecution. </strong>Please! Houses of worship enjoy a position of great privilege in America. Churches do not pay taxes. They do not even have to file forms with the IRS to obtain that tremendous tax-free benefit. They can’t be forced to perform anyone’s marriage ceremony. They are exempt from all sorts of anti-discrimination laws when it comes to hiring and firing employees and are routinely exempted from a host of other laws. And when officials in Houston, Texas, recently tried to subpoena some pastors’ sermons, the public outcry was so swift and loud that the <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/politics/houston/article/Mayor-set-to-make-announcement-on-sermon-subpoenas-5855458.php">subpoenas were withdrawn</a>. How is any of that persecution?</p><p><strong>Myth 4: Kids can’t pray in public schools. </strong>Although multiple decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down <em>mandatory and coercive</em> prayer and Bible reading in public schools, students maintain considerable rights if they wish to pray. Students in public schools may pray individually or in small groups provided they are not disruptive and do not infringe on the rights of others. They may also read the Bible or other religious texts during their free time.</p><p><strong>Myth 5: Churches</strong> <strong>must be silent on politics. </strong>The federal tax code states that all organizations with tax-exemption under Section 501(c)(3), including houses of worship, may not endorse or oppose candidates for office. But that doesn’t mean churches cannot get involved with political matters. Churches are free to discuss ballot initiatives, engage in issue advocacy, lead voter registration drives and even host non-partisan candidate forums. But in doing so, they must not give the impression that any one candidate is favored over others. They may also distribute voter guides, provided such guides are truly non-partisan.</p><p>These facts should offer you a quick retort for the Religious Right’s most common myths about the separation of church and state. But of course, some people simply cannot be reasoned with. So if Uncle Frank refuses to accept that the First Amendment guarantees church-state separation, or Aunt Mildred is insistent that Christian “persecution” is real, perhaps it’s best to just let them rant while you have another helping of stuffing.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/responding-common-attacks-church-state-separation">Responding to Common Attacks on Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/treaty-tripoli-0">Treaty of Tripoli</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-adams">John Adams</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thanksgiving">thanksgiving</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/leo-pfeffer">Leo Pfeffer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/irs">IRS</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span></div></div>Wed, 26 Nov 2014 16:43:27 +0000Simon Brown10692 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/talking-turkey-a-holiday-guide-for-responding-to-your-uncle-who-loves-fox#commentsPrayer Problems: Local Governments Struggle With Invocation Policies In Wake Of Greece Decision http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/prayer-problems-local-governments-struggle-with-invocation-policies-in-wake
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s really no surprise that cities like Kennewick, Wash., and Winter Garden, Fla., are dealing with these issues. The Supreme Court created a constitutional mess in Greece, and now lower-level governments are left to clean it up. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A city councilman in Washington state has <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/08/wash-state-city-councilman-demands-all-prayers-be-directed-to-christian-god/">a stance on pre-meeting prayers</a> that is too extreme for even some staunch Religious Right allies to accept.</p><p>John Trumbo of the Kennewick City Council recently suggested that council meetings ought to open with an invocation “directed in name and reference to the same God addressed in the Founding Fathers’ signatory documents that established this nation,” the Tri-City (Wash.)<em> Herald</em> reported.</p><p>What Trumbo tried to say is: prayers should only be directed to the Judeo-Christian God. When a colleague asked him to clarify, he said, “the God of Abraham, the same God who Jesus Christ refers to as his father and is one with him.”</p><p>He added that government buildings in Washington, D.C., are filled with “depictions of Christian religious scenes and biblical inscriptions,” which is a clear indication in his mind that the Founding Fathers would want the Christian God to be the focus of local government pre-meeting prayers.</p><p>“It’s all over the place and none of it’s Allah and none of it’s Buddha,” he claimed.</p><p>Trumbo justified his grossly inaccurate position with an incorrect interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in <em>Greece v. Galloway</em>. In May, the high court said communities are free to open their meetings with predominantly Christian prayers, but they may not exclude other points of view.</p><p>Too bad for Trumbo that even the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Religious Right legal group that has represented the Town of Greece and <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/prayer-problems-does-greece-town-board-s-new-invocation-policy-exclude">helped craft its new prayer policy</a>, doesn’t support Trumbo’s take.</p><p>“I suspect there’d be some legal difficulties in deciding who someone prays to,” said Brett Harvey, senior counsel for the ADF.</p><p>And let’s not forget that the Founding Fathers made no references to God or Jesus in the U.S. Constitution, which is the basis for all laws in this country. If the founders had really wanted America to be a “Christian nation,” wouldn’t they have said so? But they didn’t say so and America is not officially Christian, much to Trumbo’s chagrin.</p><p>So Trumbo used the Declaration of Independence as “proof” that the Founding Fathers promoted Christianity, but that’s a tired – and weak – argument. Yes, that document does reference a creator – but it is a deistic God, not the fundamentalist Christian God Trumbo pines for. Plus, the Declaration is little more than an 18th century press release. It has no legal authority today.</p><p>Additionally, Trumbo’s statement that “Christian religious scenes and biblical inscriptions” in Washington, D.C., are proof of the founder’s intent show <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/founding-fibs-the-religious-right-is-still-trying-to-hijack-george">how little he knows about history</a>. Washington did not become the capitol of the United States until 1800. By then, many of the founders including George Washington, Ben Franklin and George Mason were already dead. Most of the government buildings in Washington today did not exist until well after all the Founding Fathers had died. To suggest they had anything to do with biblical inscriptions that may be on those buildings is simply false. </p><p>Fortunately Trumbo’s scheme to exclude non-Christians doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Not long after he made his proposal, the city council tabled the idea, the <em>Herald</em> said. </p><p>Unsurprisingly, such debate has plagued many city councils nationwide ever since the <em>Greece</em> decision. The Winter Garden, Fla., City Commission recently <a href="http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/26462387/winter-garden-commission-adopts-new-policy-for-prayer-pledge">agreed to open its meetings with a moment of silence</a>, but didn’t arrive at this reasoned conclusion right away.</p><p>A controversy started when Mayor John Rees had Winter Garden’s police chief remove 51-year-old resident Joseph Richardson from a commission meeting in August. Richardson’s crime? He had the nerve not to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because he objects to the words “under God.”</p><p>Richardson also objects to the commission’s policy of opening meetings with an invocation delivered by a commission member, he told WOFL Fox 35 Orlando, and he won’t stand during the prayers.</p><p>Richardson said he asked the commission to change its prayer policy back in May, which they finally voted to do last week and switch to a moment of silence.</p><p>Rees opposed that decision, Fox 35 said. He also apologized for the <a href="http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/winter-garden-mayor-kicks-man-out-meeting-sitting-/nhCJh/">negative press</a> Winter Garden received thanks to his decision to remove Richardson from the August meeting in the first place.</p><p>It’s really no surprise that cities like Kennewick and Winter Garden are dealing with these issues. The Supreme Court created a constitutional mess in <em>Greece</em>, and now lower-level governments are left to clean it up. Sadly this will be an ongoing issue for years to come – unless the high court changes its mind.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/prayer-at-government-events-and-legislative-meetings">Prayer at Government Events and Legislative Meetings</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/greece-v-galloway">Greece v. Galloway</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-trumbo">John Trumbo</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mayor-john-rees">Mayor John Rees</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alliance-defending-freedom">Alliance Defending Freedom</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/joseph-richardson">Joseph Richardson</a></span></div></div>Tue, 09 Sep 2014 19:30:45 +0000Simon Brown10475 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/prayer-problems-local-governments-struggle-with-invocation-policies-in-wake#commentsPalin Palaver: Constitution Based On Bible, Former Alaska Governor Tells O’Reillyhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/palin-palaver-constitution-based-on-bible-former-alaska-governor-tells-o
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">I’d like to ask Palin exactly where in the Constitution it says our laws are based on the New Testament or the Ten Commandments?</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Once again, Sarah Palin has got it all wrong.</p>
<p>Last week, the former Alaskan governor <a href="http://indyposted.com/21214/palin-says-u-s-law-should-be-based-off-the-bible/">appeared</a> on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” to correct the “nonsense” she was hearing over the National Day of Prayer.</p>
<p>Palin slammed Judge Barbara Crabb for her <a href="http://www.au.org/documents/2010/obama-order.pdf">decision</a> ruling the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, claiming the opinion is “inconsistent with the national motto” and stems from a “worldview that involves some people being afraid to discuss our foundation and being afraid to discuss God in the public sphere.”</p>
<p>Palin wanted to set the record straight, stating that the Founding Fathers based our country on Judeo-Christian beliefs.</p>
<p>“I think we should keep this clean, keep it simple,” she told Bill O’Reilly. “Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant. They’re quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments. It’s pretty simple.” (O’Reilly, for his part, calls legal challenges to the National Day of Prayer “dumb” – brilliant legal analysis there, Bill!)</p>
<p>When O’Reilly asked her what she would say to Americans who come from other faith traditions, she said:</p>
<p>“I’d say ‘Yay, welcome to America, where we are tolerant and you have a freedom to express whatever faith, you can participate peacefully in whatever religion that you choose, that’s what America is all about.’”</p>
<p>But, she added, there must still be respect that Americans base their “laws and values on the God of the Bible and the New Testament.”</p>
<p>These remarks come on the heels of her <a href="http://blog.au.org/2010/04/20/palin-palaver-former-alaska-governor-is-no-george-washington/">statements last month</a> asserting that America is a Christian nation.</p>
<p>Palin claims that those who disagree with her, including Judge Crabb and secularists, just want to “re-visit and re-write history.”</p>
<p>Let’s be real. It’s obvious who is doing the revising of history here.</p>
<p>While it may be true that many of the founders were religious, that does not serve as evidence that they based our laws on the New Testament, as Palin audaciously claims.</p>
<p>I’d like to ask Palin exactly where in the Constitution it says our laws are based on the New Testament or the Ten Commandments? Where does that document single out Jesus Christ as the inspiration for government? When did James Madison, the father of the Constitution, say anything even remotely like this?</p>
<p>Palin will search in vain because those references are not in the Constitution or the writings of the Founders. In fact, our founding document contains a First Amendment that guarantees religious freedom for all. The Founding Fathers took great pains to make sure that no one religion was singled out for special treatment and gave us the separation of church and state.</p>
<p>But not surprisingly, even after all this time, Palin has failed to read any of our founding documents – even, apparently, our Constitution, which she claims to know so much about.</p>
<p>I’d also recommend that Palin read Thomas Jefferson’s Jan. 1, 1802, letter to the Danbury Baptists, where he explained very clearly that our laws were not founded on any one faith tradition.</p>
<p>Jefferson <a href="http://blog.au.org/2008/12/31/a-new-years-greeting-for-the-ages-jeffersons-jan-1-letter-to-the-danbury-baptists-still-rings-true/">wrote</a>, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man &amp; his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, &amp; not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church &amp; State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”</p>
<p>Next time, it would be helpful for Palin consult some history books – not to mention the Constitution – before rambling on like she is some sort of expert on anything. But I won’t hold my breath.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bill-oreilly">Bill O&#039;Reilly</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/history">history</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-day-prayer">National Day of Prayer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/official-prayer-religious-displays-amp-ceremonial-religion-outside-schools">Official Prayer, Religious Displays &amp;amp; Ceremonial Religion (outside schools)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sarah-palin">sarah palin</a></span></div></div>Mon, 10 May 2010 17:55:15 +0000Sandhya Bathija2436 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/palin-palaver-constitution-based-on-bible-former-alaska-governor-tells-o#commentsPrayer Day Decision: The Religious Right (Predictably) Gets It Wronghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/prayer-day-decision-the-religious-right-predictably-gets-it-wrong
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">This decision is not attacking America’s heritage at all – in fact, it is upholding what our Founding Fathers intended.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Last night, Americans United celebrated a decision by a U.S. district court judge who <a href="http://www.au.org/documents/2010/obama-order.pdf">ruled</a> the congressionally mandated National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, AU’s executive director, <a href="http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/archives/2010/04/au-praises-federal-court.html">hailed</a> the decision as a “tremendous victory for religious liberty. Congress has no business telling Americans when or how to pray.”</p>
<p>But several Religious Right leaders are predictably dismayed over the ruling.</p>
<p>“It’s important to remember this about the National Day of Payer: It’s America’s heritage, and this day belongs to Americans,” <a href="http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/3977">said</a> Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster.</p>
<p>Shirley Dobson, chairman of the (privately sponsored) National Day of Prayer Task Force and wife of Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson, elaborated on those thoughts.</p>
<p>“Since the days of our Founding Fathers, the government has protected and encouraged public prayer and other expressions of dependence on the Almighty,” Dobson <a href="http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/4387713640.html">said</a>. “This is a concerted effort by a small but determined number of people who have tried to prohibit all references to the Creator in the public square, whether it be the Ten Commandments, the Pledge of Allegiance, or the simple act of corporate prayer – this is unconscionable for a free society.”</p>
<p>Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, which represented 31 members of Congress in a friend-of-the-court brief defending the National Day of Prayer, also chimed in.</p>
<p>“It is unfortunate that this court failed to understand that a day set aside for prayer for the country represents a time-honored tradition that embraces the First Amendment, not violates it,” he <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/print/64225">said</a>.</p>
<p>Oster, Dobson, Sekulow and their aligned groups are wrong. This decision is not attacking America’s heritage at all – in fact, it is upholding what our Founding Fathers intended.</p>
<p>The National Day of Prayer was created by Congress less than 60 years ago. And if we <a href="http://www.au.org/resources/history/old-docs/jefferson-and-madison-on.pdf">look to the Founding Fathers’ examples</a>, we see how James Madison, considered the Father of the Constitution, thought presidential prayer proclamations nourished the erroneous idea of a national religion and how Thomas Jefferson believed that the decision to pray should be left up to the individual.</p>
<p>It’s this vision that U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin brought us back to yesterday. She said that by enacting the National Day of Prayer statute, “the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience.”</p>
<p>Crabb also explained that this does not in any way prohibit any individual, including the president, from praying.</p>
<p>“No one can doubt the important role that prayer plays in the spiritual life of a believer,” she wrote. “In the best of times, people may pray as a way of expressing joy and thanks; during times of grief, many find that prayer provides comfort. Others may pray to give praise, seek forgiveness, ask for guidance or find the truth.</p>
<p>“However,” she continued, “recognizing the importance of prayer to many people does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support of it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic. In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”</p>
<p>Wise words.</p>
<p>How could anyone who believes in religious liberty disagree?</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alliance-defense-fund-adf">Alliance Defense Fund (ADF)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/government-sponsored-prayer">Government-sponsored prayer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jay-sekulow">Jay Sekulow</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/joel-oster">Joel Oster</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/national-day-prayer">National Day of Prayer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/official-prayer-religious-displays-amp-ceremonial-religion-outside-schools">Official Prayer, Religious Displays &amp;amp; Ceremonial Religion (outside schools)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-politics">Religion and politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/shirley-dobson">Shirley Dobson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span></div></div>Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:25:43 +0000Sandhya Bathija2429 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/prayer-day-decision-the-religious-right-predictably-gets-it-wrong#commentsLost In Austin: Texas School Board Majority Takes Hard-Right Turn Down Wrong Roadhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/lost-in-austin-texas-school-board-majority-takes-hard-right-turn-down-wrong
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Forget about what leading historians think, these board members think they know best.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>What happens in Texas, unfortunately, may not stay in Texas.</p>
<p>That’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031700560.html?hpid=topnews">the concern</a> for many religious leaders, historians and civil liberties activists who are appalled at the Texas State Board of Education’s actions last week. The board is currently revising the state’s social studies curriculum and has decided to base the new standards on their personal ideological beliefs instead of real history.</p>
<p>Professional educators proposed curriculum standards to the board, but instead of listening to these experts, a Religious Right bloc and its allies on the 15-member board succeeded in adding more than 100 amendments that many historians believe are biased and inaccurate. And now, because many textbooks are based on Texas’ curriculum, this revised history may be taught throughout the country.</p>
<p>“The books that are altered to fit the standards become the best-selling books, and therefore within the next two years they’ll end up in other classrooms,” said Fritz Fischer, chairman of the National Council for History Education. “It’s not a partisan issues, it’s a good history issue.”</p>
<p>But it is clear that “good history” is not what these Texas education board members really care about. Instead, they’d rather push Religious Right propaganda.</p>
<p>For example, during a hearing over the curriculum standards last week, Cynthia Dunbar, a Religious Right member on the board, <a href="http://tfninsider.org/2010/03/11/sboe-rejects-religious-freedom-in-standards/">said</a> that the Founding Fathers didn’t intend to separate church and state. Dunbar, a graduate of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School, lectured the board that the Founders intended to promote religion.</p>
<p>After hearing her spiel, religious conservatives on the board refused to approve a standard that would have required students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over others.”</p>
<p>Now, thanks to Dunbar and friends, students probably won’t learn what the First Amendment is all about nor why it is important to protect the beliefs (and non-belief) of all Americans.</p>
<p>It’s a thought that is not only offensive to civil liberties groups, including Americans United, but also to historians and fair-minded religious leaders.</p>
<p>“[I]t’s unfortunate that such a basic understanding of the First Amendment was victim to the hyper-politicization on the State Board of Education,” <a href="http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4945/53/">said</a> Stephen Reeves, legislative counsel for the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Christian Life Commission. “But it just reinforces the need for churches – Baptists and others – to educate their students about how the First Amendment protects religion in this country.” (The Baptist General Convention of Texas is not affiliated with the fundamentalist-dominated Southern Baptist Convention.)</p>
<p>Religious liberty was not the only casualty of the ultra-conservative board’s decision. Here are some of the board’s other historical rewrites:</p>
<ul><li> Thomas Jefferson was removed from a section on how Enlightenment philosophy influenced the founders; instead, students will be taught about theologians Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin.</li>
</ul><ul><li> Students will now be required to learn about conservative heroes and icons such as Phyllis Schlafly, the Heritage Foundation and the Moral Majority. But they refuse to allow a similar standard requiring students to learn about “liberal” individuals and organizations.</li>
</ul><ul><li> Study about the civil rights movement was rewritten to minimize efforts by ethnic minorities and women. Instead, students will learn that minorities owe thanks to men and “the majority” for receiving equal rights.</li>
</ul><ul><li> When Texas students learn about Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address, they will also learn about the ideas in Jefferson Davis’s address as president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.</li>
</ul><ul><li> Students are barred from learning about the influence of hip hop on music because the board considers it too closely related to “gangsta rap.”</li>
</ul><p>Seems like one really bad joke, doesn’t it? But it’s not, and sadly, the <a href="http://tfninsider.org/2010/03/13/the-list-of-shame-in-texas/">list</a> goes on.</p>
<p>It’s so awful that Paul S. Boyer, an emeritus professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of several U.S. history textbooks, including ones used in Texas, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031700560.html?hpid=topnews">told</a> the <em>Washington Post </em>he would be uncomfortable endorsing his own book if he had to make these changes.</p>
<p>But forget about what leading historians think, these board members think they know best. They are expected to officially adopt these standards May 21.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religion-public-schools-and-universities">Religion in Public Schools and Universities</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/cynthia-dunbar">Cynthia Dunbar</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/founding-fathers">Founding Fathers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/history">history</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-public-schools-and-universities">Religion in Public Schools and Universities</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/social-studies-curriculum">Social Studies Curriculum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/social-studies-curriculum">Social Studies Curriculum</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas">Texas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/texas-state-board-education">Texas State Board of Education</a></span></div></div>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:10:23 +0000Sandhya Bathija2421 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/lost-in-austin-texas-school-board-majority-takes-hard-right-turn-down-wrong#comments